Hamlet's Treatment Of Women In The Elizabethan Era

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The Elizabethan Era was a time in which women were limited to what they could do in society. The men assumed leadership roles in this patriarchal society. Women who were married always received guidance and attention from their husbands. This caused women to be viewed as “weaker” physically and emotionally. Shakespeare’s Hamlet embodies the time period as Ophelia and Gertrude, the only females in the play, being greatly controlled by the men in their lives and used as a tool to get what they want. Polonius is domineering to his daughter Ophelia who obeys what she is told. Ophelia has been taught to believe what men tell her, so when Hamlet expresses how much he cares for her, she believes him. Hamlet knows he can win her heart and is willing …show more content…

Hamlet is filled with anger toward his disobedient mother because she doesn’t mourn the death of her husband before marrying Claudius. Hamlet cannot help but think of how selfish his mother is being and says, “So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly.” (Hamlet 1.2.143-146) Hamlet is truly sickened thinking knowing his mother is sleeping with Claudius every night after being with a great man who loved her dearly. This makes it clear to Hamlet that women living in the patriarch society were weak without a man in their life. This immoral act was the only way for Gertrude to keep her social status. It was not right to be without a man during the Elizabethan Era. Hamlet calls his mother a hypocrite because he knows her love for Claudius is no where near the love she had for his father. His words are so harsh that he compares Claudius to a villain for murdering his father. When Hamlet is talking to his mother, his tone is very powerful and demanding, “Infects unseen. Confess yourself to

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